The Charge

Opening Statement

From the director of Urban
Legend comes a bat-@#$% insane tale of a stranded couple lost in the woods
that meet a family of crazies who are just begging to get murdered in ridiculous
ways.

Facts of the Case

Yuppie Rob (Robert Taylor) and his spunky French wife Pia (Nadia Fares) go
fishing one day and get themselves nice and lost just in time for a major
thunderstorm. They make their way to a mysterious island and eventually stumble
upon a ramshackle farmhouse. While looking for a phone they immediately realize
that the owners of the filthy, porn-strewn house are likely not citizens of the
year. Before they can vacate the premises, Poppy and his two wacky sons show up
and promptly turn up the psycho meter.

Rob and Pia are soon smacked around and tossed into a farmhouse, their lives
hanging in the balance while dad and his boys figure out the best way to debauch
and eventually kill them. But things are cooking in the farmhouse that may alter
those plans and could possibly lead to pieces of their torsos lying on the
grass.

The Evidence

Here's a horror flick that I will easily recommend to genre aficionados.
Storm Warning is a nasty bit of bloodshed and profanity; ludicrous in
concept and story, but a vicious little bastard of splatter entertainment.

Let's start with the weak stuff first. The plot points are as inane as any
you'd find in a mainstream horror movie, executed by characters that are as
stupid as you'd expect. Rob and Pia are stupid. They've got zest when it counts
and aren't afraid to get their hands dirty when it's killing time, but they end
up in their unsavory situations to begin with because of the dumb-ass choices
people that have never seen horror movies make. Like, say, when you wander into
a strange, dumpy farmhouse littered with violent pornography and empty whiskey
bottles it's probably not a good idea to hang around. Sure enough, that's what
they do, even after discovering an illicit marijuana farm.

So they're caught and punched in the face and spit on and threatened and
death is imminent and that's when the fun kicks in. The first hour of the film
is all build-up and it's done well. Director Jamie Blanks knows how to generate
tension and he puts his psychotic characters to good use, milking their twisted
personalities and demented acts until they're just asking for some violence to
be perpetrated against them. And once the suspense peaks is when the meat of the
horror goes down.

And we are talking meat. When the gore happens, it happens with style.
Really, you have to see some of the crazy-ass violence that transpires. None of
it is even remotely possible in the real world, of course, defying all the laws
of physics and common sense, but it doesn't matter: at this point you'll be so
pumped to see the victims get their comeuppance you'll be more than happy to
forgive the outrageous consistencies. And remember, this is from the guy who
brought us Urban Legend another
gorefest riddled with deaths that make no logical sense. All the death scenes
are inventive and over-the-top and will surely satiate most gore freaks.
Seriously, this is some wild, wacky stuff.

Then the movie ends. And I was impressed and entertained, as thoroughly
ridiculous as the experience was. So check it out if you're in the mood for some
obscene slaying and blood-soaked schaudenfreude.

The technical aspects are top-notch. Transferred in a clean 1.85:1
anamorphic widescreen, Storm Warning, as dark as the setting is,
consistently boasts excellent picture quality. The 5.1 audio mix is loud and
immersing. A lively commentary from the filmmakers is the only extra.

Closing Statement

Gory, mean, and a lot of fun, Storm Warning should appeal to anyone
craving an obnoxious serving of red-stained Aussie mayhem.